The present invention relates to smoking articles such as cigarettes, and in particular, to those smoking articles having a short fuel element and a physically separate aerosol generating means. These smoking articles are capable of providing the smoker with the pleasures of smoking (e.g., smoking taste, feel, satisfaction, and the like).
Cigarettes, cigars and pipes are popular smoking articles which use tobacco in various forms. As discussed in the background section of the aforementioned patent, many smoking articles have been proposed as improvements upon, or alternatives to, the various popular smoking articles.
Many of the smoking articles described in the prior art employ a combustible fuel element for heat generation and an aerosol generating means positioned physically separate from, but often in a heat exchange relationship with, the fuel element. The aerosol generating means typically includes one or more aerosol forming substances such as glycerin and a carrier or substrate therefor. These smoking articles also normally include tobacco in various forms such as cut filler, reconstituted tobaccos, densified pellets, tobacco dust and tobacco extracts, as well as tobacco flavor modifiers and tobacco flavoring agents. During smoking, heat generated by the fuel element acts to volatilize the aerosol forming substances, thereby providing an aerosol which resembles tobacco smoke. Such smoking articles yield extremely low levels of visible sidestream smoke as well as low levels of FTC "tar".
Many of the prior art smoking articles employ a substrate as a carrier for the aerosol forming substance in the aerosol generating means. Typically these substrates have been noncombustible solids, e.g., graphite, carbon, alumina, and the like, which are deemed heat-stable under the operating conditions of the smoking articles using them. In such articles the substrate was exposed to temperatures in the range of 400.degree.-800.degree. C., necessitating a heat-stable material. In U.S. Pat. Nos. 5,182,062 and 5,203,355 the substrate material was a cellulosic material such as a gathered paper, bearing an aerosol forming material at a loading level ranging from about 100% to about 400% by weight. The present invention represents an improvement in paper substrates for smoking articles.